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Simple Tomato Sauce

Pasta with Tomato sauce is a classic dish and I think that everyone should have a good tomato sauce recipe. This one is simple and easy to make and is delicious!

Growing up in Colombia, the only tomato sauce that I had was from a jar, so when I met my husband, whose grandmothers were Italian, I realized that I needed to make a homemade tomato sauce for him. He can pretty much eat pasta with tomato sauce every day and be happy!

One day when we first met, I wanted to surprise him with a nice Italian dinner, so I made a delicious tomato sauce, so I thought. As he began eating it, he made a strange face and asked me what I put in the sauce? I told him the list of ingredients… tomatoes, garlic, cilantro… “Cilantro?!” he said. “No wonder why it tastes like salsa. You don’t put cilantro in tomato sauce!” He has been making fun of me for that ever since.

It is so normal for me to add cilantro to every dish, that I though it was going to be delicious. What he doesn’t know is that I forgot to add cumin 😉 Anyway, after that Colombian-Italian tomato suace, I made a variety of different tomato sauce recipes until I came out with this one just recently and he said that this is the best tomato sauce that he has ever had. Enjoy!

I’d use cilantro a lot more but my older son has that “cilantro tastes like soap” gene. He can taste it even when I sneak it in. It’s one of my favorite flavors but usually only finds its way into dishes I’m only making for myself and Alexis or as a garnish.

You are so right that everyone needs a good version of tomato sauce. And even though it’s not traditional, I am going to try the whole cilantro addition. It might be heresy. But I don’t care. I love that herb so much.

Good for you making your own sauce! I’ve made my own for years now and even can my own tomatoes. I can imagine your husband’s surprise when he expected an Italian Tomato Sauce and it was flavored with cilantro! :))

I love it, cutting edge is… you are Colombian and he is Italian- I have a friend who is Phillipino and her husband is half Puerto Rican/Colombian- now there is some wild food coming out of her kitchen! I am making pasta sauce for dinner, you talked me into it!

Oh my gosh! That is such a funny story about the cilantro in the sauce. When I went to visit some cousins in Bogota a few years back I wanted to make them dinner so I called for the store to deliver Salsa de Tomate (Tomato Sauce) which to them meant KETCHUP! They did have a tiny tube of tomato paste so it helped but the spaghetti was kinda sweet.

I’m Colombian too and was married to an Italian for 15 years. Learned to cook Italian food from his mother (the best cook ever)…and have to admit I’m glad to know I was not the only one to make a mistake like that. After that first tomato sauce she took me under her wing and taught me all I had to learn about good Italian food.

I think cilantro would be good in tomato sauce, but I guess it’s all what you’re used to and what you ‘expect’ a dish to taste like. When I was first married, many years ago, I had never made gravy before. I made some one night and it was so gray that I used food coloring.. a mixture of green and red (hoping to make brown) but it turned out green. Haha! We still laugh about that… my green gravy!